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Okay so I’m on a sort of classics reading binge right now. Not sure what initially sparked it but I sure am glad it happened! I think it might be due to the fact that at least once a year, I read my favorite book of all time, Frances Hodgson Burnett’s The Secret Garden (you can read a bit more about my obsession with TSG here). Though I took AP English in High School and plenty of World Lit classes in College, I somehow never read Jane Eyre of Wuthering Heights! I know, I know! I’m missing out right? I would certainly agree as I am currently 100 pages into Jane Eyre, Charlotte Bronte’s masterpiece and I can defiantly see why this book has had such an endearing quality through the centuries.

Yes, the book is dark and brooding but that is part of the charm of it; we all have a dark spot inside us, some place that recognizes Jane’s pain and even revels in the icy winters and barren landscape of the Yorkshire moors. I grew up in North Eastern Pennsylvania and have experienced cold that pierces your lungs and freezes your tears and I just love how Charlotte Bronte evokes those memories of the cold, the way it settles into your body, into your hair. I love Jane’s perspective, especially the ‘I’s of her speech that gives the reader a window into the very soul of our protagonist. I also deeply love that Jane is a heroine similar to Jane Austen’s Elizabeth Bennett in that she is strong willed, even in a society that balks so freely at that trait in a woman. She bites her tongue but then she also does not shy away from defending herself and I think that is what makes her so admirable. Jane is far from perfect but she always feels flesh and blood.

I feel like I’ve discovered a secret little treasure in this novel (okay, it’s a literary masterpiece so not really secret but maybe…new to me?). I look forward to my evenings after dinner has been made,work has been finished and baby has been put to bed, when I can curl up in front of the fire with a mug of hot chocolate (and occasionally, a hot toddy!) and delve into the mysterious and magical world of Jane Eyre.

I cannot wait to see the new movie starring Michael Fastbender and Mia Wasikowska but I’m one of those people that have to read the book first. It’s a fine line between speeding through a novel to get to the dessert: the movie, and savoring each line. I hear the movie is beautiful and lucky for me, Netflix also has an earlier version on instant-stream starring miss Sookie Stackhouse herself and Charlotte Gainsborough.

Have you read Jane Eyre? What are your thoughts?

In the meantime, here are some stunning covers for the many, many editions of Jane Eyre out there! (I just love a good book cover, don’t you??)

I’m glad you liked the post! I always love going back and falling in love with a novel all over again! I too love Jane’s constant emotional presence in all her interactions with the other characters and the setting. Glad to talk with fellow Jane Eyre fans!